Dom is; a talented baseball pitcher. and Ihe Arm is; his; confidant and friend; he keeps; it moisturised and calms; it down in moments; of crisis. But Dom's; father has; plans that do not Involve baseball.

()uirky. stylish and often funny, there are frequent glimpses of what John Fante could (to. But we remain curiously detached. and tits; characters ..ltrrnately fail to gain our sympathy. Although titrs; is; a poetic evocation of the lim:tatrons imposed by poverty and racism, it l‘as; been done better elsewhere.

Inex'rtabée press s;toos;iire around the ouititcatron of this; biography of Billy Connolly by his; Wife. fltf'lit'llltl on revelations of ncmosexual tixllfflltklli’XEE; and sexual abuse by in; father. In reality, these issues; are f;()ltlt}‘.'.’l‘.£tl skirted over. and ti qeneral this; book rs; a rather“ flimsy and :>r:':as;2<>nalli. ':r'r‘qe‘xxortliy look at a o'etty uamn interesting

()r; form, the Big; Yin Is funny. f;l‘;tllf3ll‘.£tll(l. outraqeous; and 'ft;‘.’r :rent; sadly [Bi/Iv is; none of these thinqs. and Pamela Stephenson is no great .‘xnter‘. l ssentially there are two parts to the l/mk. Ihe first is; all ‘ooor unbrinqinq. broken horne' stuff, wrth Stephenson at often 'iv'a'rous; pains; to ex; In.“ the concept of

urban Scotland to a presumably American readership.

The second part is all ‘Dustin Hoffman said this. and George Harrison did that'. only not nearly as interesting as that sounds. A resolutely uninspired account of a unique comic talent.

The majority of these movies; are exploitation flicks; so Zalcock helpfully locates; them on a sliding scale of misogyny between what she terms the ‘punish the blonde movie' (exemplified by Alfred Hitchcock's; abuse of Tippi Hedren) and its; flipside. the ‘ambitious; blonde punishment movie' (such as; Fatal Attraction).

It's not all exploitation by men. though: women went for the money shot too. Thus. this; expanded edition of the 1998 book includes; an interview wrth Stephanie Rothman. director of Student Nurses: another new chapter focuses; on the Delinquent Nurses; sub- qenre. [alcock's is; an exhaustive survey. but it falls down on analysis. It's not good enough to write; Queen Of Outer Space is so wonderfully camp' and 'hard to top'. Bad qirl. (Miles; l’iieldet‘l

Books

EVENTS AT BORDERS

TUESDAY 16TH OCTOBER 7PM

COLIN PRIOR

Launches his beautiful new book of photographs: Scotland - The Wild Places, with an illustrated talk on

this magnificent photographic record of Scotland's landscapes.

THURSDAY 18TH OCTOBER 7PM

TIM PAGE

An emotive retrospective of 35 years of war and peace in Indochina from this leading photoiournalist.

WEDNESDAY 24TH OCTOBER 7PM '

PAMELA STEPHENSON ON BILLY CONNOLLY

at The Glasgow Royal Cbncert Hall (tickets £2, only from Borders)

Pamela Stephenson is an expert on comedy, psychiatry and of course her husband, Glasgow’s favourite son, Billy Connolly. This is an event not to be missed as the woman who knows him best gives a fascinating insight into a unique star.

THURSDAY 25TH OCTOBER 7PM

JONATHAN FALLA

l l :9, Scotland's fiction imprint, celebrates its first anniversary with the publication of an impassioned and compelling debut novel, Blue Poppies, from an award winning author of film, plays and stories.

MONDAY 29TH OCTOBER 7PM

RUTH THE TRUTH

One of Britain’s most popular psychics with an easy guide to developing yOur powers.

TUESDAY 30TH OCTOBER 7PM

TIMOTHY GOOD -

British UFO expert gives an illustrated talk focusing on an examination of the existence of alien bases on earth.

TUESDAY 6TH NOVEMBER

LOUIS DE BERNIERES

The author of Captain Correlli's Mandolin leads a rehearsed reading of his play Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World at the Collier Theatre. Tickets cost £2

THURSDAY 8TH NOVEMBER

TOM BAKER

The fourth and most popular Dr. Who will be reading from and signing Doctor Who The Scripts covering the first season of Tom Baker's incarnation.